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Cougars Fall to No. 62 Utah, 5-2

PULLMAN, Wash. - The Washington State University women's tennis team came up short in a pair of three-set matches before falling to No. 62 Utah, 5-2, Saturday on the Simmelink Tennis Courts at Hollingbery Fieldhouse. WSU's record falls to 2-2 on the season, with both losses coming against ranked team.

Utah opened the day by taking two of three doubles for the opening point. Utah captured the top two doubles matches to secure the point before Jessica Gomez and Ksenia Googe of WSU defeated Evgenia Kryuchkova and Lisa Johnson at No. 3, 7-6.

In singles play Utah increased its lead to 2-0 as Paige Miles posted a 6-2, 6-3 win over Marina Nicolas at No. 3 singles. The Cougars cut the lead in half as Elisabeth Fournier defeated Erin Monson, 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 at No. 2 singles. The win was Fournier's fourth-straight in the dual-match season.

The next two matches clinched the win for Utah as Anastaia Putilina rallied from a break down in the third set to defeat WSU's Liudmila Vasilieva at No 1 singles, 7-6, 4-6, 6-4. At No. 4 singles Utah's Kryuchkova staved off three match points to defeat Googe, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6, winning the third-set tiebreak 10-8. Googe had fought off three match points of her own late in the third set.

At No. 6 singles Johnson earned a straight-set win over Cougar freshman Jackie Owens, 6-2, 6-2, before Andjela Kankaras closed out the match with a Cougar win, defeating Andrea Maughan, 6-1, 6-7, 10-7, playing a 10-point tiebreak in place of the third set as the team match was already decided.

The Cougars are next in action Jan. 29 when they host Montana State in the morning and Eastern Washington in the afternoon. Both matches will be played on the Simmelink Tennis Courts at Hollingbery Fieldhouse.